Satire of heaven and hell by ex-Catholic author

Joe Meyers

Published 3:41 pm, Thursday, December 5, 2013

Stamford writer Joe Wenke critiques and satirizes many of the tenets of the Catholic Church in his new book "Papal Bull."
Photo: Contributed Photo

Stamford writer Joe Wenke critiques and satirizes many of the...

Stamfordite Joe Wenke writes about the challenges he faced as a Catholic school student in his native Philadelphia in the new book "Papal Bull." It's the follow-up to Wenke's Biblical satire "You've Got to Be Kidding!"
Photo: Contributed Photo

Stamfordite Joe Wenke writes about the challenges he faced as a...

Joe Wenke's first communion in Philadelphia, where he was the oldest of 11 children in a strict Catholic household. The Stamford writer's latest book, "Papal Bull," is a scathing satire of what he learned as a Catholic school baby boomer.
Photo: Contributed Photo

Whoever said "God is in the details" would find an acerbic critic in Joe Wenke.

The Stamford writer, and fallen Catholic, won acclaim for his book-length send-up of the Bible -- "You Got to Be Kidding!" -- and he's back with a point-by-point satirical critique of Catholicism (and religion in general) in "Papal Bull" (Trans Uber, $9.99).

If you wonder why a "merciful" God created a no-exit-ever hell or if you entertain thoughts of how boring the traditional religious notion of heaven might be, you will meet a savagely witty ally in Wenke's book.

"I wonder about what the rules might be in heaven. Like what you can and can't do. For example, is the Bill of Rights still in effect? Is there freedom of speech? What about freedom of religion? Suppose I'm staring right at God, and I say to him, I don't believe in you anyway. What happens?" Wenke writes. "The idea of being a spirit and zipping around the universe at least as fast as the speed of light may sound pretty cool, but after awhile I think it would get to be a `been there, done that' type of situation. ..."

Wenke went to Catholic school in his native Philadelphia, from grade school through high school, and vividly recalls the physical punishment that was dished out by the teacher nuns.

"It's a totally different world now. ... That kind of corporal punishment is unimaginable. ... When I look back, I think, `Did this really happen?' " Wenke said in a phone interview last week.

The writer added that it is difficult not to have seriously mixed feelings about his Catholic schooling. On the one hand, he saw a fellow student beaten so hard with a yardstick that it eventually broke. "But on the other hand we learned a lot of stuff by rote that has served me well. It's ironic, but that's where I learned rigorous logic," he said of gaining the skills that he was eventually able to use to criticize the church and its teachings.

The way that the old church schools produced virulent critics "is a little bit like that whole British (private) school thing," Wenke added.

The Stamford writer's books have caused some friction within his family.

"It's scary to start questioning and to start thinking differently from your family. My family is still strict Catholic," Wenke said of the mixture of family pride and distress that has marked the publication of both books. "This is something that goes very deep. You can't talk about it rationally with your family."

Wenke believes that if the Catholic Church does not make major changes in its philosophy, it will suffer from the same loss of power and influence that has been felt by the Republican Party in this country in recent years.

"Attitudes are changing," the writer said of the surveys that show today's Internet-saturated young people are much more liberal about social issues than their elders -- they aren't as racist or as homophobic as previous generations.

"The Republicans have been marginalized by appeasing their (tea party) base. If the Catholic Church doesn't reform, the same thing will happen to them," he said.

Prize winner

Recent "Book Beat" subject Bob Moseley, of Shelton, received a Readers Favorites citation for his young adult novel, "Out of Bounds," at the Miami International Book Fair the weekend of Nov. 22 to 24.

The book uses the Watergate scandal as a framework for a contemporary tale about a high school football scandal.